Bailbrook House

My wife had booked this hotel as a late present and it came as a very pleasant surprise to discover this nice tucked away hotel.
The hotel had recently undergone a multimillion refurb and no expense has been spared. We had both dinner & breakfast at the hotel, and all I can say is that it rivals the likes of the Shangri-​La. The staff are excellent and more than helpful. We look forward to going again.

Went for a function in the hotel and came away very deflated. Tucked away off the main road the and up a long drive it looked jaded. Little effort had been made to liven up the function room for Xmas bash abliet for 3 balloons on the table; the bar smelt of wet cats, the staff clearly wanted to be elsewhere and the food just about reached mediocre. As I did not stay in the hotel I cannot make comment on as admit that I only saw a small aspect of the operation of the business. Does not look promising though.

For what this place is meant to be — an up market conference hotel with a spa — it gets two stars.
The first thing you see on arrival is the beautiful Bailbrook House… that is, once you arrive. As with many stately homes, Bailbrook doesn’t have a building number so when you put the information into your SatNav you end up unable to find it and have to call reception — who say that there is no building number. It’s maddening as, unbeknownst to us Northerners, the street extended across the roundabout so there was no way we were going to find it without help from reception… who also failed to mention that it’s next to Bailbrook Lodge which only has a sign at the top of the drive that states «if you’re looking for Bailbrook House, turn around and go left»
On attempting to check in at 13:45 we were told that check-​in wasn’t until 14:00. There was no checking to see if our room happened to be ready, we were just sent on our way.
When we were finally able to get into the room we discovered that the rooms are in a 70s style block next to the stately home. A block described by The Man as looking «like an old folks’ home» which, indeed it turns out it used to be.
The room was large and comfortable but far too warm with the towel rail permanently on. We attempted to phone reception about this but the line kept ringing out so we gave up.
I had read on the website that they were offering massages at 20% off, but when I went to make a booking it was clear that reception had no idea about any part of the spa services. I had to wait while the massage therapist was called and asked about costs, times and treatments. I was told to report to reception where I would be taken to the relaxation room but when I did arrive, I was just pointed «up the stairs to to the right» which, in a place with a few different halls leading off the stairwell, left me wandering around for quite a bit.
The «relaxation room» was a large room with herbal teas on offer, and no hot water.
My massage was fine though I felt that the therapist followed a set pattern rather than feeling out my body for tension areas, and it was finished off by a head massage that was clearly meant to run out the remainder of the hour. The relaxation of the process was somewhat lessened by what sounded by vacuuming going on in the nearby rooms the entire time.
The next day, The Man and I visited the «spa» part of the hotel which includes a gym, sauna and a jacuzzi.
We bypassed the gym to find a) a cold sauna and b) a tepid, chlorine-​filled (to the point that it made your eyes sting and the whole thing nearly foamed over when we turned on the jets) jacuzzi. A call to reception and a long wait later, the sauna was turned on and we discovered a large *very* hot metal box with no protection around it at all — meaning that if you get a bit woozy and wobble a bit on your way out (which passes said hot box) you are pretty much guaranteed 3^rd degree burns. Awesome!
The final straw was the wireless… or lack thereof. At this, a conference hotel, the wireless was down. So, this place is full of people who are on business, making business contacts, and needing to send emails, and everyone is relegated to whatever wireless device they happened to bring along with them. THe staff said it was a BT issue but I’ve never known internet to go out for days on end with BT before, so who knows really.
All of this compounded by the fact that the place is a 40 mnute walk from town leaves me advising people to look elsewhere for accomodation in Bath.